Detective Comics No. 27 which first marks Batman’s debut sold at an auction Thursday for more than $1 million, breaking a record set just three days earlier by Action Comic #1 featuring Superman’s first appearance.
A Dallas-based auction house said the rare copy of Detective Comics No. 27 sold for a total of $1,075,500, which includes the buyer’s premium, to a buyer who wished to remain anonymous.
“It pretty much blew away all of our expectations and now it’s the highest price ever raised for a comic book,” said Barry Sandoval, director of operations of Heritage’s comics division.
A copy of the first comic book featuring Superman, a 1938 edition of Action Comics No. 1, sold Monday for $1 million in a sale between a private seller and a private buyer, with the transaction conducted by the New York City auction site ComicConnect.com.
“We can really say that Batman has nosed out Superman, at least for now,” Sandoval said.
The Batman comic was bought by the consigner in the late 1960s for $100.
J.C. Vaughn, associate publisher of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, said most people had predicted it would be the comics with the first appearance of Superman and Batman that broke the $1 million barrier. Both comics that sold this week were in great condition — scoring an 8.0 on a scale that goes up to 10, he said.
“I think that you can greenly ascribe this to a real comfort with the liquidity of rare, high grade vintage collectibles,” Vaughn said.
Vincent Zurzolo, chief operating officer of Comicconnect.com, took the breaking of their record in stride.
“It’s an exciting week in comic books when you have two comics selling for $1 million,” he said.